


slate-blue earth below

by couldaughter



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Background Relationships, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Reunions, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-04
Updated: 2016-01-04
Packaged: 2018-05-11 20:03:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5640187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/couldaughter/pseuds/couldaughter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I hate your beard,” she said, once he got close enough to hear her.</p><p>Luke smiled woefully. “Rey agrees with you.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	slate-blue earth below

“General?”

Leia looked up from her desk, the holo-projection above it flickering slightly. “Yes?”

The corpsman at the door smiled nervously. “We’ve received word from Rey. She should be arriving within the hour.”

Leia took a deep breath. “Good. I’ll get the welcoming party together.” She smiled back, then got on with her work.

It had been nearly forty years, and the condolence letters didn’t come any more easily. There were only so many ways she could apologise.

\---

Leia made sure she was stood on the runway when the Falcon came in to land. The sight of it breaking through the clouds made her breath catch, but her hands kept steady, even when the wind picked up and the chill in the air made her breath visible.

The ramp came down slowly.

Rey ran out immediately, grinning widely as she jumped into Finn’s arms for a long-awaited hug.

“I missed you!” Rey shouted over the sound of the engines powering down.

Finn shook his head, smiling shyly. “I missed you too.” 

Poe was stood next to Finn, his own smile soft and warm as he watched the friends reunite. His hand was on Finn’s shoulder. Leia found herself grinning at them as well, feeling indulgent and a little giddy.

While she watched, someone else took their first step down the ramp. 

She felt her brother approach before she turned to see his face. Immediately, she decided to stay stood exactly where she was. It was about time he came to her, after all those years.

“I hate your beard,” she said, once he got close enough to hear her.

Luke smiled woefully. “Rey agrees with you.” He stepped closer, bringing his hands to her elbows. “I’m sorry.” 

Leia closed her eyes. “I know.”

They stood in silence for a few moments.

“Master Luke!” 

Leia opened her eyes just to roll them. 

Luke turned his head, keeping his grip on Leia’s arms. “Oh, hi, Threepio. I like the arm.”

“Thank you very much! I was very concerned it might make me unrecognisable even to an old friend like yourself but once Master So-” Threepio stopped mid sentence. 

Leia had never imagined a droid could feel embarrassed before meeting Threepio all those years ago, but he’d certainly convinced her by then.

“Yes, thank you, Threepio. How about you go back to base and make sure a room’s been set up for Luke here,” she said, evenly. “I’d hate to think of my brother sleeping on the floor.”

She watched the droid clatter off before turning back to smile at Luke. “Sorry. The years have not softened him.”

“It’s alright. I’ve sorta missed him, to be honest.” He paused. “It’s been a long time.”

“It has,” agreed Leia. “Too long.”

\---

They were split up for most of the day, after that.

Leia could still feel her brother in the back of her mind, and avoided him accordingly. She couldn’t allow that distraction until after all her work was done.

Her last order of the day, after meetings upon meetings upon holo-calls, was to visit Rey. 

Rey, who was apparently busy beating Finn and Poe at some card game. Leaning on the doorframe, Leia smiled. “Am I interrupting anything?” 

All three of them jumped and turned so quickly Leia was worried they might hurt themselves. “No, not at all!” Rey said, her voice a little higher than usual.

“It’s alright,” said Leia, moving into the room. “Gambling isn’t prohibited on base until a fight breaks out. What are you playing?”

“Pazaak.”

“Ooh, old school,” she said, sitting down. “I’d love to join in, but unfortunately I gotta talk to Rey for a little while. You boys alright to amuse yourselves until I’m done with her?”

Poe and Finn nodded, setting their cards down on the bunk they’d been sat on, close together. Leia beckoned Rey out of the room, leading her down the corridor to a relatively quiet alcove.

“Sorry to drag you away from your friends.”

Rey smiled, and shrugged. “I was winning. They deserve a break.”

Leia laughed. “Fair enough. I wanted to ask you about my brother.”

“He’s a good teacher,” said Rey carefully. “I’m sure you know him better than I do.”

“I thought I did,” said Leia. “But it’s been a long time. People change.” She thought wistfully of a time, decades ago by then, when she thought she might have got out of the war with most of her family intact.

“I don’t know what he was like before but, for what it’s worth, I like him the way he is now.”

Leia blinked, surprised. It seemed Rey had managed to cut right to the heart of her worries. “Thank you. That’s... just what I wanted to hear.”

\---

When she finally made her way to Luke’s room, it was well past dark. She knocked on the doorframe, twice, and opened the door.

“Can I come in?”

Luke was laid down on one of the narrow bunks, eyes closed. Leia nearly turned and left, not wanting to wake him.

He stymied that plan, as she’d hoped he would, by sitting up and smiling at her. She’d missed his smile. “Of course,” he said. “Come on over. There’s plenty of room.”

She went to sit beside him on the bed. “It’s good to see you. I… wanted to say that, when you arrived, but I’ve had a little too much in the way of public declarations recently.”

Luke looked at her closely, not smiling. His eyes were almost unbearably sad. “I wish I’d-”

“I know,” said Leia. “His luck was bound to run out eventually, I suppose. Remember Endor? Stupid man.” She closed her eyes tightly, feeling tears threatening.

Luke put an arm around her shoulders. The metal fingers of his right hand glittered in the dim light. “He had his fair share of daring escapes, it’s true.” He paused. “I’m sorry.”

She snorted. “You said that already.”

“I know, but I am.” He shrugged, shoulders slumping lower. It was as if he was shedding the image of The Last Jedi one gesture at a time. 

“None of it was your fault, you know.”

“Wasn’t it?”

Leia felt rage bubble up inside her. “No! Good god, Luke, not everything is your fault, stop being such a martyr.”

Luke had the decency to look embarrassed. “Sometimes it’s difficult to believe that.”

“Of course it is, you idiot, you just had fifteen years alone to think about it.” Leia cupped his head with one hand, feeling the ridges of scars he’d gained all those long years ago on Hoth. It seemed almost like another lifetime.

“I did spend… a lot of time. Thinking.” Luke hesitated. “For a while, I wondered what might have happened if I killed your son. All my other students-”

“Oh, Luke,” said Leia, her anger turning cold inside her. “Ben made his choice. I asked Han to bring him home, and Ben killed him. I’ve been wondering about it too.”

The admission made her shiver. Luke tightened his grip on her, resting his chin on the top of her head.

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For telling me.” Luke didn’t smile.

Leia sighed. “I’m getting too old to lie to people.”

“Yoda never let that stop him,” said Luke. He did smile, then. “Useless old man.”

“I wish I could’ve met him,” Leia said.

Luke laughed. “I think he would’ve liked you more than he liked me.”

There were a lot of layers to that that Leia wasn’t quite ready to dissect. Instead, she laughed right along with him.

“Speaking of useless old men,” she said lightly. “Lando sends his best wishes.”

Luke flushed. Leia kept laughing.

“I don’t know _what_ you mean,” said Luke, suddenly sounding thirty years younger. 

“Sure I don’t,” said Leia. “He’s your old flame, not mine. What _I_ want to know is how we ended up with the exact same taste in men.”

Luke pulled back to glare at her, but couldn’t keep it up for long. His frown broke into a reluctant grin. “Alright, alright,” he said. “I’ll send him my own best wishes back as soon as I can.”

“Don’t put it off,” said Leia, feeling suddenly dampened again. “Who knows what might happen?”

He kissed the top of her head. “We’re not meant to.”

“That might be so, but I don’t have to like it.” She sighed, then checked the chrono. It was well past her self-imposed curfew. “I’d better get to bed.”

“I suppose you’ll be very busy tomorrow,” said Luke. “Would you mind your darling younger brother tagging along?”

“Only if he’s very good,” Leia replied, teasingly. “And doesn’t get in the way.”

“I’ll be on best behaviour,” he promised, giving her a lazy salute. He paused. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too,” said Leia. “Don’t hurry away, this time.”

“I’ll try my best.”

Leia supposed that was the best she could hope for.

**Author's Note:**

> things i love that i self indulgently put in this fic: #TWINFEELZ, luke/lando, basically everything. for the record i have no idea which twin was born first but as the older twin in my siblingship i firmly believe leia is the eldest
> 
> title is from never quite free by the mountain goats, because of course it is.
> 
> catch me on tumblr @folignobobrovsky if you like star wars and hockey and occasional existential despair


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